User blog:Alzrius/Hobby Japan loses license to translate Dungeons
This isn't really Queen's Blade related, but since it deals with Hobby Japan I felt like posting it here. Hobby Japan has just announced that Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of hasbro) has declined to license Hobby Japan to translate the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons - called D&D Next (or D&D Fifth Edition) - into Japanese. Even more surprisingly, this was apparently done not because WotC is going with a different translation company, but because they've elected not to license any companies to make foreign translations of the new D&D game...in any language. An English-language version of the linked announcement reads as follows (thanks to Iosue on EN World for the translation): AN IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT "D&D NEXT" Thank you very much for your continued patronage of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Since January of 2013, we have been engaging in promotional activities, primarily through "Table Game Channel", on the assumption of making the transtion from D&D 4th Edition to D&D Next. However, Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of D&D, has decided to sell only English versions of D&D Next, and has not put out a license for translations. This applies not only to Japan, but all non-English language regions. As a result, we cannot release a Japanese version of D&D Next. We deeply apologize that we can meet the expectations of everyone who was looking forward to a Japanese version of D&D Next. As a company, we will wait for an opportunity to do the translation, taking in account the possiblity that Wizards of the Coast may change their policy, but we must announce here that for the time being, there is no plan to publish Japanese versions of D&D Next merchandise. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who has supported the Japanese versions of D&D over the 10 years since the Japanese release of D&D 3rd Edition. Eiji Nakabayashi Game Development Department Hobby Japan, Inc. As a D&D enthusiast (though not for Fourth Edition, and who is on the fence about Fifth Edition) and a self-described Japanophile, I'm very disappointed by this. The discussion thread on EN World where the above translation was posted has second-hand confirmation that this is the case for translations of the game in other languages as well, including German and Italian. There is some speculation that Hasbro might be moving more towards translating and selling foreign editions of the game internally, rather than licensing other companies to do so; this seems to have been the case with several other properties they own, both in Japan (e.g. Magic: the Gathering) and in other countries (e.g. Monopoly, in Brazil). If that is the case, I think it would behoove them to announce that sooner rather than later, in order to maintain a dialogue with their non-English-speaking fans. As it is, this definitely means we won't be seeing official D&D stats for Leina any time soon (I kid here, since a crossover between any of HJ's own properties and their licensed properties was never on the table that I know of). Category:Blog posts